Want a Sharper Memory? A Short Workout May Rewire Your Brain for Better Recall |
Want a Sharper Memory? This Short Workout May Rewire Your Brain for Better Recall
For years, scientists knew exercise was good for the brain. Now they finally know why.
BY AMAYA NICHOLE, NEWS WRITER
New research suggests your next workout isn’t just building muscle, it’s rewiring your brain for better memory.
Researchers have long looked into the relationship between exercise and the hippocampus, with one study finding that moderate exercise a few times a week can increase the size of the hippocampus and another noting that the timing of the exercise can make a difference in how memory is consolidated.
“Lifestyle choices, especially physical activity, can have a meaningful impact on how the brain functions over time,” said lead researcher Michelle Voss, PhD, a neuroscience professor at the University of Iowa, who has spent her career investigating how lifestyle choices, specifically physical exercise, can support brain health.
However, these studies have only been able to track blood flow in the hippocampus which doesn’t provide a real-time picture of what the neurons are actually doing.
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In a recent study, Voss and an international team of neuroscientists from the Universities of Iowa and Wisconsin, Ohio State, the Institute of Science and Technology Austria, and Neuromatch Academy examined the brain activity of 14 participants following exercise and found that brief, synchronized bursts of electrical activity among neurons—known as hippocampal sharp wave-ripples (SWR) or brain ripples—not only play a key role in consolidating memories but occurred more frequently and with greater intensity after physical activity.
Typically, these SWR occur too rapidly to be captured by standard brain imaging, making this study the first to directly observe how exercise influences the brain’s electrical activity.
“These pulses were also more finely synchronised with neural activity in the rest of the brain,” Voss told BBC.